Author Archives: Sheila

Finished And Happy With It

Winter Bouquet. 6 x 6 mixed media on paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado

Walking through the floral stems in Hobby Lobby is what inspired this painting. Glorious ranunculus, ever unfolding. You can scroll down to see where this came from, the changes made. I washed off the watercolor blooms I had before. Went back in with acrylic to cover up the muddy mess that made. Started fresh with more watercolor and acrylic.

Tried to fight the lizard brain, but I still ended up with some rows. Added greenery, (duh, leaves, why didn’t I think of that?) And tried for texture in the blooms. Still some things I would change, but calling it done, and I am happy with it. With a little help from my friends, Sea, Val, and Lana. And of course Dotty’s consistent, cheerful, critiques. Thank you all for your helpful comments on the earlier version of this.

Start To Finish?

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We had rain for most of last night. I worked quickly while listening to soft rain drops and an occasional boom of thunder. Another start from weeks ago.

WIP. 6 x 6 acrylic on paper. 2017 Sheila Delgado

I had no clue what to do next, where to take it. I just wanted to paint. Grab a brush and get in the zone.

Two lines became a vase. And where there is a vase, well, you get the idea. The first layers were acrylics. I added Neocolor and more acrylic.

After I scanned the image, I felt it was top-heavy. So I made some changes in Photoshop. I added some of the background around the blooms. I tried several times, in different areas. But I wasn’t thrilled with this either.

WIP, Winter Bouquet. 6 x 6 mixed media on paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado

NOW, I can see that I have rows of blooms. is that what I don’t like? Next step, I think I am going to go back in, and make larger blooms. Fewer, blooms.

Stay tuned.

More late Christmas/Birthday loot. Our Christmas celebration was this past weekend. These were from my brother and his wife. The book covers five different mediums, with beginning to advanced techniques. I had a hard time putting it down! Just looked on Amazon, and there is a companion book for painting as well.

As we were in Phoenix, I had the chance to visit Jerry’s Artarama. If you are on their email list, they offer a free gift for your birthday. Thought it would be colored pencils, or markers. Turned out to be a 4 x 6 hardbound sketch book. How cool is that! I also picked up a few more Neocolors, a bottle of alcohol ink, watercolor paint, Three 6 x 6 Da-Vinci coarse textured panels, and 10 4 x 4 mixed media panels. Yay for seasonal sales!

Color me excited!

Prepping for 30 in 30

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Eucalyptus Leaf, front and back. Watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2013 Sheila Delgado

A few days ago I began getting ready for the start of what will be my ninth 30 in 30 event. Cutting paper to size, filling my watercolor pans, thinking about a theme. I think I actually have one this year! You will have to stay tuned to find out. (Sure hope you do, LOL) The painting challenge starts next month.

This leaf was day 30 of my first 30 in 30. You can click on the gallery tab above, and visit that first event if you would like. I painted pears mostly. Had fun with those. I was happy with 18 of the paintings I did that month. Not bad, just over half. Gave 7 as gifts.

That includes this Eucalyptus leaf. I loved this painting. Still do. Really enjoyed working on it, and very happy with how it turned out. They are not visible here, but there are little veins and “cracks” where some of the paint settled into the texture of the paper. Happy surprise that.

Looking forward to the happy surprises February might bring!